Chiq-y Monkey

When Guerita was 16 months old, she had only just learned to walk and was fairly hesitant about exploring her surroundings. She is still quite cautious although she has certainly become more physically confident and reckless to the point of chipping teeth.

I try not to compare my girls too much, but I can’t help but notice the difference in their sense of adventure. Chiq at (nearly) 16 months old has been walking for 4 months and is completely and utterly fearless. We installed a stair gate early on because she was (and is) obsessed with climbing the stairs. She climbs on everything - the higher the better, the more precarious the better and in the last few days she has reached new heights (literally). I feel like every day is like a series of panic attacks as I realise that in the few minutes I have my back turned, she has climbed up here

or onto the kitchen table - there’s no time for photo taking when she’s up there!

And yes, that’s the light switch she is reaching for in that photo.

The hooks on the wall there are where a pinboard used to hang with Guerita’s school work and drawings pinned to it, until Chiq climbed up there and decided drawing pins looked like a tasty snack.

There used to be a pinboard (with family photos) on the other wall, above the couch but it had to go too once she worked out how to climb up the back of the couch.

Maybe it’s Chiq’s way of encouraging me to start packing - the walls are looking barer and barer as I remove more things she can reach!

I must admit, though, I’m out of ideas for preventing the table climbing, short of taking it away altogether. Guerita might not like losing her desk, although she has put up with having the bench for it on the other side of the room for a few months now (it used to be a stepping stone for Chiq to get up on the table before she worked out how to do it from the floor).

But what about the kitchen table? If I remove every piece of furniture she can climb on before long we’ll be camping on the floor! The kitchen door is a swinging (saloon style) door so she can easily get through that. There’s no keeping her out of he kitchen. We’ve put foam tiles down in the family room, but the rest of the house is hard marble tiles and I shudder to think what would happen if she fell.

Has anyone got any great suggestions for how to keep her feet on the ground?? Or at least how to keep her head and bones in one piece!!